In recent years, disposable diapers have met with increased commercial acceptance primarily because of their convenience as opposed to cloth diapers which need to be laundered once soiled. There exists, however, a need for a disposable training panty which can be used during the transition period between diapers and reusable undergarments. An undergarment of this general type would also be useful with incontinent adults and children because of their absorbent properties, fit, and disposability.
Currently available training pants are generally made from knitted or woven cloth, such as cotton, or cotton-polyester blends. They may or may not include additional absorbent layers in the crotch area and they may include a water-repellent outer layer. Non-disposable training pants are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,733,715; 3,237,625; 3,368,563; 3,530,859; and 3,613,687.
The prior art and commercially available training pants suffer from a number of disadvantages, however. Aside from the obvious disadvantage of having to be laundered, the primary disadvantage of the currently available conventional cloth training panty is the problem of liquid strike-through. The prior art has attempted to solve this problem by providing areas of extra absorbency utilizing, for example, terrycloth or a piled fabric in the crotch portion of the panty and/or additionally including a water-repellent outer layer in the crotch area, or over the entire outer surface of the panty. However, as anyone known who has ventured through the traumatic training period with their babies, the prior art simply has not provided a satisfactory solution.
For the above reasons, many mothers continue to use diapers during the training period, rather than suffer the annoyance of liquid strike-through when their child has an accident. While the use of diapers substantially reduces the problem of liquid strike-through, diaper use during the training period is highly undesirable and tends to prolong the period required to completely train the child. Psychollogically, it is desirable for children to be in panties during the training period so they are aware of no longer being babies and are more aware of accidents.
Aside from the undesirable psychological drawbacks of continuing to use diapers during the training period, disposable diapers present an economic drawback. Disposable diapers generally utilize tape tab fasteners in place of safety pins as fastening means. When the tabs are removed so that the child can be placed on the toilet, the unsoiled diaper must be discarded because the currently available tabs are for a single use fonly and usually tear the backing fabric when they are pulled away.
A variety of disposable panties are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat Nos. 3,424,162; 3,599,638; 3,599,640; and 3,636,953. Such panties are provided with or adapted to receive a sanitary napkin in the crotch portion of the panty and are not adapted to deal with the liquid strike-through problem encountered during the training period or with incontinent adults or children. Similary, the disposable panty types disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,663,962; 3,245,407 and 3,488,778, do not satisfy the need for a disposable training panty, because the panties are either nonabsorbent, such as plastic, or lack the necessary fit in the leg and waist area to prevent the problem of liquid strike-through and leakage.